U.S. to Expand Aid to Colombia

Published 6:00 pm, Friday, February 22, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The United States will expand its help in Colombia's battle against leftist rebels by sharing intelligence with the country and delivering spare parts for military equipment.

Colombia already has received more than $1.3 billion in military aid, including 14 Black Hawk and 33 UH-1N Huey helicopters and counternarcotics training for its soldiers.

Secretary of State Colin Powell praised Colombian President Andres Pastrana on Friday for showing "enormous patience" with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC, before he called off efforts this week to negotiate a settlement.

Powell's spokesman, Richard Boucher, said later the Bush administration "will look to do whatever we can within our law to support the government of Colombia."

"Two of the more immediate things we're looking at is to share more information, including intelligence information, with the government of Colombia," Boucher told reporters. "The second one is that the government of Colombia has purchased various spare parts for their equipment, that we'll look to see if we can't expedite the delivery of those things."

U.S. law allows military support to be used in the Colombian government's campaign against drug production and trafficking, but it forbids its use to fight insurgents.

Colombian Ambassador Luis Moreno welcomed Boucher's comments on possible expanded U.S. assistance but said his government wants it to go further.

He said Pastrana told members of Congress last fall he wants permission for Colombia to use U.S. equipment in the drug fight and "to prevent acts of terrorism."

"We have been working with the administration in this regard," Moreno said at a news conference.

Colombian troops launched an offensive Friday to retake a swath of territory that Pastrana ceded to the FARC rebels in 1998 in hopes productive peace talks would follow.

Pastrana ceased negotiations to end Colombia's 38-year civil war after guerrillas hijacked a civilian airliner Wednesday and kidnapped a prominent senator.

The kidnapping was the last straw for Pastrana, who had come under criticism for pursuing stalled talks even as the FARC kept dynamiting electrical towers and attacking other targets. The FARC insisted it wanted to negotiate a cease-fire.

"He's (Pastrana) been rebuffed. … He finally felt he could go no further and he had a responsibility to the people of Colombia to protect them," Powell told reporters traveling with him from Asia with President Bush.